Anonymous kicks off anti-SOPA DDoS rampage -- updated

By Tim Lohman

Computerworld|

Update: As at 11:50 AEST the FBI's site appeared to be down. Anonymous also issued the following tweet: "FBI.GOV TANGO DOWN! #Megaupload".

Anonymous appears to be currently carrying what is one of its largest DDoS attacks in what it claims is a response to the proposed SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy measures in the US and recent charges laid against the backers of file sharing site MegaUpload.

In tweets from an Anonymous-linked news account the group claims to have some 5635 “confirmed people” using its Low Orbiting Ion Cannon (LOIC) distributed denial of service (DDoS) software to attack sites belonging to organisations it claims supports the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

As at the time of publishing the sites of the Motion Picture Association of America MPAA), Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as those of the US Justice Department and Universal Music, were down.

The indictment against those behind MegaUpload alleges they were “members of the ‘Mega Conspiracy,’ a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale with estimated harm to copyright holders well in excess of $500,000,000 and reported income in excess of $175,000,000.

“Megaupload.com is a commercial website and service operated by the MegaConspiracy that reproduces and distributes copies of popular copyrighted content over the Internet without authorization.”

The indictment alleges that from at least September 2005, Megaupload.com has been used by the defendants and other members and associates of the Mega Conspiracy to “willfully reproduce and distribute” millions of copyrighted copies of motion pictures, television programs, musical recordings, electronic books, images, video games, and other computer software.

“Over the more than five years of its existence, the MegaConspiracy has aggressively expanded its operations into a large number of related Internet businesses, which are connected directly to, or at least financially dependent upon, the criminal conduct associated with Megaupload.com,” the indictment reads.